George ended Friday in P16 at Formula One’s first-ever visit to Losail for the Qatar Grand Prix.

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George began FP1 at the Losail International Circuit on the Hard compound Pirelli tyres as he took to the track for the first time.

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On his first run, the Brit slotted himself into P18 on the timings as he got to grips with the unfamiliar Qatari track.

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A quick switch from the Hard to the Soft tyres and George returned to the track, moving himself up the timings into P13 before ending the session in P16.

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As track temperatures began to drop for FP2, George opted to begin the session on the Medium tyres, putting in a 1:26.091 lap time to place himself into P16.

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The British driver pitted at the midpoint of the session, switching to the Soft tyres before putting in a 1:24.991 lap time to improve into P14.

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George completed his run of all three tyre compounds by switching onto the Medium tyres for the end stages of the FP2 session, ending the day in P16.

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George Russell – Williams Racing Driver

I enjoyed it out there today. It’s a really fun circuit to drive and it’s very fast, probably faster than we expected. The tyre degradation seems relatively low which allowed us to push pretty hard, which is what we all want as drivers from a track. What that means for actual racing on Sunday I’m not too sure as it didn’t seem the easiest to overtake out there. However, the conditions look like they will change tomorrow which will hopefully be favourable but even if they don’t, we will adapt to the situation. The kerbs here are also pretty brutal given the speeds we are doing so there is going to have to be an element of compromise and resistance to going over the limit, as it is not only slower but could possibly damage the car. Overall though, it was a fun day.

FP3 for the Qatar Grand Prix will get underway at 11 am GMT on Saturday, November 20.

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